Court of Appeals Remand for Vietnam Vet Exposed to Agent Orange in Korea

By Melissa Davidson, VA Accredited Senior Attorney

We recently obtained a Remand from the Court of Veteran’s Appeals for a Vietnam Era Veteran that served in Korea near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The Veteran served 12 months in Korea at Camp St. Barbara and often ran errands in the countryside. The unit records from that time were lost, causing difficulty in proving the Veteran was there and was in areas where Agent Orange was used to reduce foliage. The Veteran later developed insulin-dependent diabetes with neuropathy. These types of cases can be challenging due to the passing of many Veterans that served during that time and the VA refusing to acknowledge that Agent Orange was used in more areas than those immediately surrounding the DMZ. Additionally, Agent Orange is likely to have traveled through the river system, where the Veteran was washing trucks.

The Board of Veterans Appeals will now review the claim along with new evidence we submit to support the case. We will be using prior Board Decisions to support the claim, as first-hand buddy statements are not available. The statements from other Veterans in these prior cases are good evidence that Agent Orange had more wide-reaching effects than the area immediately surrounding the DMZ.